Tuesday, December 7, 2010

You know it's quite sad when the "talking heads" at ESPN -- MAKE A JOKE -- about "renaming" the Hyundai Sun Bowl, because it has two of the teams with the highest graduation rates in college football (Notre Dame and Miami, FL) playing each other.

I felt sorry for former Notre Dame Hesiman Trophy winner, Tim Brown -- having to be associated with this crew. Here's the link:

D.J. Davis, a wide-receiver for the #1 ranked Oregon Ducks -- paid tribute to Notre Dame student, Declan Sullivan -- by wearing a photo of Declan in a protective covering attached to his belt. Here's a link to the story:

Dan Murphy a 2009 Notre Dame grad has entered his "Leprechaun Legion" Blog into the "Who's the Biggest Fan in the Big East" contest being sponsored by Volvo. To vote for Dan as the BIGGEST FAN IN THE BIG EAST -- click on the link below. The winner gets a Volvo, tickets to the Big East Championship tournament and a $10,000 check for their alma mater. I told Dan that the ND GO IRISH BLOG gang would get behind him in this effort. Go Irish!!! and Go Dan Murphy!!!

Since Lou Holtz's 1988 National Championship football team -- Notre Dame's Women's athletic teams have won FOUR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS. The Men's teams have zero.

Now, to be fair the Notre Dame Fencing Team (Men & Women) has won four "combined" National Championships in that time frame.

The above photo is of the eight foot tall "Grace Hall #1 sign" that is lit up every time a Notre Dame team is ranked #1 in the country. This tradition started in 1973 when Grace Hall put up this sign after the football team beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to win the 1973 National Championship. That sign was lit again last Sunday night when Notre Dame's Fencing Team won the 2011 National Championship!

Here's a list of every Notre Dame National Championship team by year and by sport -- UPDATED on 4/4/11:

The 2010 Women's Soccer National Champions -- the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame -- was well represented on the All Tournament Team, with six team members among the eleven given this honor! Notre Dame's Melissa Henderson (photo on right) was named Most Outstanding Offensive Player and Notre Dame's Jessica Schuveiller (photo on left) was named the Most Outstanding Defensive Player. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Here's the All Tournament Team:

Well, it took approximately 21 hours for the 2010 Hyundai Sun Bowl to be declared a SELLOUT! To put this in perspective, last year's Sun Bowl game between Oklahoma and Stanford was the fastest sellout in Sun Bowl history and it took 16 days for them to sell out the 50,000 seat stadium.

When was the last time we heard "Oklahoma and IRRELEVANT" in the same sentence on ESPN?

Now we know why the Hyundai Sun Bowl's CEO was in "tears" when he spoke with great joy about having Notre Dame play in their bowl game...

It just goes to show you that there's College Football and then there is NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL.